During the design and analysis of a plurality of different types of structures, such as aircraft and other vehicles, buildings and the like, the impact of various load cases upon the structures may be analyzed. In this regard, the plurality of different load cases may be analyzed in order to ensure that the structure has been designed and/or constructed so as to withstand each of the load cases.
A load case may include a plurality of load components, such as axial loads, shear loads, bending moments, axial compression, torsion, temperature or the like. In instances in which a structure depends upon only one of these load components, the structural analysis may consist simply of considering the maximum and minimum values of the respective load component and then ensuring that the structure is sized so as to withstand such a load. However, more complex structures are generally analyzed in accordance with a plurality of load cases, each of which may include one or more load components. Thus, the analysis of the load cases may quickly become substantial with some structures requiring the analysis of hundreds or thousands of load cases. In this regard, the structural analysis of hundreds or thousand of load cases may not only be time-consuming, but may become unfeasible in some complex situations.
In some instances, analysts have relied upon intuition in order to reduce the number of load cases that must be considered. However, such a reduction in the number of load cases may compromise the accuracy of the results. As such, various techniques have been developed in order to analyze a plurality of load cases. For example, the max-max combination technique may consider the maximum values for each of the load components from among the plurality of load cases. While the max-max combination technique significantly reduces the time and the computing resources required for the analysis, the max-max combination may be too conservative in some situations, thereby potentially resulting in unnecessary increases in the weight of a structure and the cost of the materials that are incorporated into a structure. Additionally, reliance upon the max-max combination technique may result in the loss of information regarding the specific load cases. As another example of load case analysis, a single component survey may be performed. However, a single component survey may also be less than ideal and may result in other components being designed in a manner that is insufficient in some instances.